This video is about one of the beautiful Nissan Skyline R32 Group A recreations made by UK-based company Ric Wood Motorsport. At this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed they brought their Calsonic R32 and fielded it in the official timed shootout driven by Andy Middlehurst, who won four back-to-back titles from 1995 in the English National Saloon Championship all with a Nissan R32.

When Nissan began to conceive the R32 they had already in mind a race car version to be fielded in the FIA’s Group A class. One year after the roadgoing Skyline GT-R’s introduction in 1989, Nissan released the lighter weight NISMO GT-R in 1990, building 560 examples to homologate the GT-R for Group A racing (a minimum of 500 road cars were required). This NISMO variant allowed Nissan to homologate specific go-fast parts just for racing as well as creating a specification more suited to a competition base.

For Group A they developed a 2.6-liter twin turbo straight-six engine dubbed RB26DETT. Had Nissan gone for a 2.8-liter motor, it would force the car into a class with a weight minimum of 1,340 kg while, thanks to the RB26 lower displacement, they were allowed to enter the car in a class with a minimum weight of 1,260 kg. In race trim the engine produced around 600hp which coupled to the advanced all-wheel-drive system (called ATTESA E-TS) made it a lethal weapon, dominating all 29 races of the Japanese Touring Car Championship entered.

It also took victory at the 1991 Spa 24 Hour race and decimated the competition in Australian racing where it became known simply as ‘Godzilla’, winning three Group A Championships between 1990-1992 and a 1st place at the Bathurst 1000 in 1991 and 1992.
The Skyline R32 GT-R proved to be the ultimate touring car from the Group A breed of homologation specials, including the Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth and the BMW M3 E30.